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IRAQI LEADERSHIP GAINS AGREEMENT ON CONSTITUTION

Iraqi leaders agreed early Monday morning to an interim constitution that would serve as the framework for the government through next year, Iraqi officials said.

The deal, struck at 4:20 a.m. after a lengthy meeting, was approved unanimously by the Iraqi Governing Council, the Iraqi officials said. It included ''full consensus on each article,'' said Intifad Qanbar, an aide to Ahmad Chalabi, a member of the council, the Iraqi authority appointed by the American occupation administration.

Mr. Qanbar said the constitution would be signed Wednesday after the Shiite Muslim feast of Ashoura.

The council has been under intense pressure to reach an agreement on the constitution, an important part of the process by which the Bush administration intends to hand sovereignty to an Iraqi government by a June 30 deadline.

If approved, the interim constitution would be the most progressive such document in the Arab world. Even before the hard bargaining began, there was wide agreement on many of its major features, including the freedom of speech, press and assembly and the free exercise of religion.

''This document protects the rights of individuals more than any other document in the region,'' said Feisal al-Istrabadi, an Iraqi American lawyer who helped draft the interim constitution.

The governing council members agreed to compromise language on several difficult issues, the Iraqi officials said. Islam was to be designated ''a source'' of legislation, not ''the primary source,'' as had been demanded by several Muslim members of the council.

That compromise, which had been one of the most intractable areas of disagreement, was finessed when Iraqi leaders agreed to insert language prohibiting the passage of any legislation ''against'' Islam, Mr. Qanbar said.

The agreement capped several days of intense bargaining by members of the governing council. The interim constitution is intended to serve as the framework for the Iraqi state from June 30 until a permanent constitution is written, presumably next year, following nationwide elections.

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If it holds, the constitution agreed to on Monday morning would be a significant step in Iraq's struggle to find a way to accommodate its many religious and ethnic groups.

In another important compromise, Iraqi officials agreed to allow thousands of Kurdish militiamen to hold on to their weapons as part of a ''national guard'' that would be under the command of the regional governments, Mr. Qanbar said.

The aide said the national guard system would be nationwide, suggesting that the militias now retained by many of the political parties would not be expected to disarm. While the national guard units would be under local supervision, they would ultimately answer to the federal government, Mr. Istrabadi said.

The agreement on the Kurdish militia was part of a wider deal granting continued autonomy to the Kurds, who have been largely governing themselves in northern Iraq since 1991.

Kurdish militiamen, known as the pesh merga, assisted American forces in northern Iraq during the campaign that toppled Saddam Hussein last year.

''Many people expressed their gratitude to the pesh merga for helping to liberate the country,'' Mr. Qanbar said.

Any interim constitution would have to be approved by L. Paul Bremer III, the chief American administrator here. American officials could not be reached for comment early Monday morning.

In a significant compromise, the constitution envisions that 25 percent of the seats in the national assembly would be held by women, Mr. Istrabadi said. As envisioned by the constitution, the national assembly will be chosen by nationwide elections this year or next, although the document does not spell out the exact mechanism for the elections.

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A version of this article appears in print on March 1, 2004, on Page A00001 of the National edition with the headline: IRAQI LEADERSHIP GAINS AGREEMENT ON CONSTITUTION. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe